Beatriz Michelena

Beatriz Michelena was a Venezuelan American actress during the silent film era, known at the time for her operatic soprano voice and appearances in musical theatre. She was one of the few Latina stars visible on the silver screen in the United States in the 1910s. She was the leading lady in each film project she was involved in, and cofounded a production company with her husband, producing four of her own movies.

Beatriz Michelena was reportedly born in New York City in 1890, six years after her sister Vera Michelena, and around the same time that her father, Fernando Michelena , a noted Venezuelanborn tenor, was singing the title role of the opera Ernani with a traveling theatre company that performed famous operas translated to English for American audiences. Over much of her childhood, Michelenas parents toured with the Emma Abbott Grand Opera Company. Beatrizs father in later life taught music and worked as a vocal coach and, at the time of his death, was serving as president of Arrillaga Musical College, San Francisco. Beatriz and her sister Vera were trained by their father in classical voice and drama studies, and they followed in his footsteps by beginning singing careers of their own. Vera first appeared onstage in the Princess Chic Opera company at 17, taking a leading role in The Man from China . Beatriz, too, performed with Princess Chic in 1901, taking chorus roles suitable for a

Source: Wikipedia